Jay Collado mustered enough energy in double overtime, draining the go-ahead basket to lift Basilan-Jumbo Plastic Medical Depot over Laguna Krah, 98-95, in the Chooks-to-Go Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League Invitational, Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Collado grabbed the offensive board off a Michael Juico miss and converted the putback to give Basilan the lead, 96-95, with 11.9 seconds left in the second extension.
Encho Serrano had the chance to further extend Basilan’s lead late but muffed all four of his free throws. However, with 0.5 seconds left, the Heroes did not have a chance to throw up a Hail Mary as Jaymar Gimpayan was able to putback the miss.
Collado, a 6-foot-4 product of Lyceum of Subic Bay, finished with a double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds in 31 minutes and 29 seconds.
“Yung game na ‘to just exposed na there’s no underdog teams here, there are no pushover teams,” said Basilan head coach Jerson Cabiltes. “Laguna has yet to win in the tournament but they gave us a good fight.”
It was Philip Manalang who sent the game to the first overtime via a floater to tie the game at 76-all with 8.1 seconds left in regulation.
Next up was Jonathan Uyloan, who drilled three pressure-packed free throws to knot the scores at 89-all with 0.3 left in the first overtime.
“It just signifies na lahat ng teams dito sa MPBL right now are strong,” he added.
Basilan improved its standing to 3-0 in Pool B and will fight for the last quarterfinals spot against Makati FSD (2-1) tomorrow at 7:30PM.
Anthony Bringas put up 14 points and eight boards for Basilan while Michael Juico also came up with 14 markers as well as seven rebounds and three assists.
Basilan newcomers Encho Serrano and Jaymar Gimpayan also made their presence felt. The former had 12 points, five assists, and five rebounds while the latter added 11 points and 10 boards.
Laguna ended up last in Pool B after ending the group stage winless.
Leading the Krah Heroes is Christian Fajarito, who finished with 23 big points along with 11 rebounds. The Letran big man fouled out with 1:58 left in the second overtime.
Kim Aurin, who committed the crucial foul on Uyloan in the second overtime, finished with 15 points. Edgar Charcos had 15 as well.
The Scores:
Basilan-Jumbo Plastic Medical Depot (98) – Collado 19, Bringas 14, Juico 14, Serrano 12, Gimpayan 11, Uyloan 9, Taganas 7, Manalang 7, Alanes 3, Bondoc 2, Reyes 0, Siruma 0.
Laguna Krah (95) – Fajarito 23, Charcos 15, Aurin 15, dela Virgen 11, Rivera 10, Fuentes 9, Serios 7, Anonuevo 3, Saguiguit 2, Boyles 0, Guiab 0.
Quarterscores: 23-15, 39-33, 61-53, 76-76, 89-89, 98-95.
